Replies

Anyone in NYC knows that you can't win here without the gay vote. Gay people are active in politics and wield a voting power 100 times greater than their numbers for this reason. They are organized, they have money, they are motivated. They already have an incredible number of elected officials, both out and closeted. You can't win without them.

I live in a middle-class family neighborhood, and in 2002 we had 6 or 7 candidates running for Assembly in my district, 6 of whom were gay, including the Republican. (Rosie O'Donnell's brother won.)

Rudy's willingness to make political compromises brought him to the highest office in the city. We needed him; we got him.

In national terms, I don't know what this means, since the issues are different. But I feel that the same general logic will apply if we elect Rudy: We will pay a great price but get a great prize.

For now, I support Duncan Hunter and hope that he will achieve critical mass.

Rudy's willingness to make political compromises brought him to the highest office in the city. We needed him; we got him. >>>

you're right, politics is a give-and-take system and in order to win you have to build coalitions.

Very interesting, thoughtful post in #389. Thanks for your insight. A President Giuliani (if that occurs) will be different, that's for sure. But there's no doubt he's a courageous and strong leader, which we need in a post 9/11 world. This is just anecdotal, but several non-FReeper friends of ours up here are very excited at the possibility of Rudy becoming President. These are non-affiliated voters who rarely get excited about any political candidate. The #1 reason they like Rudy? Strong leadership with the War on Terrorism.

I do like Duncan Hunter as well, from what I know of him... but will he able to overpower candidate Hillary Clinton? I guess we'll find out in the coming months.

Will be interesting to see how things shake out over this "eternity" until November 2008...